No one wanted to take it: in Ukraine, a military man underwent a unique operation to restore his face

A unique operation was performed by doctors at the National Institute of surgery and transplantology named after Shalimov – military restored the palate, writes UNN.

Our surgeons of the Department of microvascular, plastic and reconstructive surgery, headed by the head Evgeny Vladimirovich Simulik, performed a unique operation – they restored the palate of a serviceman who suffered from a mine-explosive wound to the skull while performing his official duties. A metal fragment flew through the cheek and severely damaged the upper jaw, so there was a large defect in the hard palate. For a long time, the man could not eat properly and even breathe. A multidisciplinary team, together with maxillofacial surgeons, our colleagues performed a high – tech operation-a vascularized fragment of the scapula was transplanted to close the hard palate defect

For more information about this case, see the details section.

Vasily Zhuk was injured earlier this year. For more than half a year, the fighter waited for a vital operation, went to various hospitals, but doctors did not give comforting forecasts. Metropolitan doctors took a chance and operated on the fighter.

The patient received a mine-explosive injury-a complex wound to the facial skull. A metal fragment flew through the cheek and damaged the upper jaw, so the patient was hospitalized with a hard palate effect

Treatment and recovery from injuries took months.Vasyl Zhuk, serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine:

They gave me the first operation, it was hard, then the second, then the third, then they had an operation on my leg

The fighter says: doctors patched up all the scars, except for one. There was still a skull injury. During an enemy mortar strike, the man lost part of his palate, and for a long time he could not eat properly, or even breathe. Surgeons of several hospitals refused the operation: the case is extremely complex.

The patient was admitted to us already at a more distant time after the injury, first it is the communication of the oral cavity with the maxillary sinuses, this is a significant problem that hinders in everyday life

Doctors of the Shalimov Institute say that such operations have not been performed in Ukraine before. Yes, and they themselves consulted for a long time. Nevertheless, they decided to conduct an extremely complex intervention.

Surgeons worked for almost 6 hours-transplanted tissue from the patient's back to the palate area.

At least, according to our data, we did not find any information earlier that such operations were performed in Ukraine, such operations are performed in the world. Of course, these are isolated cases. This is a high - tech operation and we performed it in a multidisciplinary team with our colleagues-maxillofacial surgeons. We had to take a vascularized fragment of the scapula, that is, part of the scapula on the feeding vessels on the feeding vein, and we implanted this fragment. We turned on the arteries on the face, the facial artery and vein, and thus started its blood flow

Another operation awaits the defender ahead. It is necessary to establish full breathing, and also insert Dental Implants. In fact, the fighter says: a somewhat forgotten feeling of a full-fledged living person is already returning to him.